Valve for feed water heaters



E. RAWSON VALVE FOR FEED WATER HEATERS Filed Dec. 4, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR EM/M/VEL RAM/60M BY -%7i@ ATTORNEY M 9, 1939. E, R I 2,157,774

VALVE FOR FEED WATER HEATERS Filed Dec. 4, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Pum OPERATING PRESS/IRE ENG/IVE OPERATING PRESSURE P007 P OPERATING PRESSURE INVENTOR EMANUEL -R4h/5o/v,

ATTORNEY Patented May 9, 1939 I v UNITED STATES PATENT orrics VALVE FOR FEED WATER HEATERS Emanuel Itawson, Chicago, Ill., assignor to The Superheater Company, New York, N. Y.

Application December 4, 1937, Serial No. 178,053.

'7 Claims. (Cl. 122-441)- This invention relates to feed water heaters 2.6v arranged to open the valve. The piston 26 and particularly to arrangements for controlling has an extension 21 of reduced diameter in comthe supply of live steam thereto for heating the munication thI'Oug-h an orifice. 28 with the outlet feed. water. chamber 29; of the valve so that the pressure of As an illustrative embodiment, the invention steam in chamber 29 may assist in. closing the will be described in conjunction with a locomovalve, the choke 2911 that regulates the flow of tive feed water heater which is normally sup steam. to the heater beingv located on the outlet plied with exhaust steam from the. locomotive side of valve 2i to build up maximum pressure engines and/or auxiliaries. The heater is supin chamber 29 so as to close the valve quickly.

plied with live steam from the locomotive boiler The pisto cy i 25 s c nnect d y a P pe 0,

through piping having a control valve provided 31 to the steam line H for the feed water pump with operating means responsive to the pressure A pilot a e 3 po e in p p 1 of steam actuating the fed water pump. The re u a s the sup y of. steam to the. p sto Y transmission of this pressure to the control valve inder Z5 fer bje n h p t n 26 130 the pr soperating means is regulated by a pilot valve its of S a Operating the p p The P p 1:; self associated with means responsive to the pres- 3 has an. extension 33 connec ed W th the exsure ofsteam operating the locomotive engine. haust steam chamber of the feed Water heater, The arrangement is such as to assure that while a choke 34 having an opening of materially the pump is operating the heater will be supplied Smaller area than the pas a e t roug th pi with live stem if the engine is stoppedorthrot- Valve 32 in provided to restrict th flow of r tled to such an extent that the supply of ex- Steam from. the pump steam line l4 tov the haust steam is inadequate to heat the feed water. heater l Another feature of the invention is that the con- The pilot ve as shown in Fi 3, control valve closes promptly when the supply of sists f a as g containing a valve member 35 23 exhaust steam becomes adequate or the pump is rged towards its. open pos ti n by an adjust shut down, spring v36. The valve member 35 is in the form Other features and advantages of the invenof a p n er av ng one ,end extending into a 't'ion will be apparent upon consideration of, the chamber 3! which is connected bye p pe 38 to following detailed description of an illustrative thefensine e pipe forsubiecti e the munser embodiment when read. in onjuncti ith the to the pressure of. steam. operating the locomotive 3n appended claims andthe accompanying drawengine ings lnwhich: v The operation is as follows: When the pump Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevational View it s l d n op ra on .by opening the valve of a locomotive embodying the inventiom' Steam from h P p Steam l l4 pass s Fig.2 is an enlarged sectional View of the conthrough the P p 3| the inlet ehambel 39 0f 33 trol'valve; a d the pilot valve 32. With the locomotive engines Fig. Sis a similar view of the pilot valve. l1 eperatinsat such a rat th th supply f 'Referringto Fig. 1, the numeral I0 designates exhaust Steam through the pip 6 is d q te the boiler of a locomotive provided with a feed to heat'the fed Water in e t the p e water heater ll supplied with feed water by a of Steam Operating the e ine iS communicated pump i2. Pump 12 is operated by live steam suph u the P p 33 t hamber 31 and acts plied from the locomotive turret I3 through'a 0n the Valve member 3 ag inst the force of steam line H controlled by a throttle valve i5. pring 36 to maintain it closed. Inasmu h a The heater l l is normally supplied through a pipe the supp y of Steam 0 the piston cylinder 25 43 16 with exhaust steam from the locomotive enthrou t P pe 31 cut off at this time by 45 gines it. At times when thesupplyioi exhaust he closed ,pilot valve 32, the control valve 2| steam is inadequate, during operation .of :the is maintained closed by p g 4 plusiboiler pump l2, live steam is supplied to the heater pressure acting on the l of -member 23. II from the boiler 10 through'piping .20 having In theevent that the locomotive is stopp d a control valveZl interposed therein. the engines I! are throttled to such an extent 5 As shown in Fig. 2, the control valve .21 .comthat thesupply 0 eX aust steam is inad quate to prises a casing 22 provided with a valve member heat the feed .water, thepressure communicat d '23-biased to its closed position by a non.-adjust to chamber 3'lthrough pipe-38 decreases and the able spring 24. Associated with the valve memspring 36 acts to move the valve member 35 to ber 2 3 is a piston cylinder 25 containing a piston its open position. When the pilot valve 32 opens,

steam passes from the pump steam line l4 through the pipe 3i and extension 33 to the heater H, the amount of steam flowing to the heater being restricted by the choke 34 so that pressure is built up in the piston cylinder 25 which is connected to the pipe 3| by the pipe 30. Thus, the pressure of steam operating the pump i2 is communicated to the piston cylinder 25 from the pump steam line I4 and acts on the piston 26 against the force of spring 24 and boiler pressure on valve 23 to move the valve member 23 to its open position so that live steam passes from the boiler [B through the piping 20 into the feed Water heater H.

When the locomotive again operates at a rate such that the supply of exhaust steam is adequate to heat the feed water, the pilot valve 32 is again closed by the engine pressure thus cutting ofi the flow of steam from the pump steam line M to the piston cylinder 25 so that the control valve 2| may close. If, alternatively, the valve I5 is closed to stop the pump, the control valve piston 26 is relieved of pressure from the pump steam line 14. In either event, when the piston 26 is relieved of the pressure of steam operating pump l2, the spring 24 acts on the valve member 23 to close it, being assisted by the pressure of live steam in chamber 29 acting on the reduced portion 21 of the piston through the orifice 28. As the valve member 23 is moved towards its closed position, the corresponding movement of the piston 25 expels any steam remaining in the piston cylinder 25 through the pipe 39, extension 33 and choke 34 into the heater H, or elsewhere if desired, so that valve 32 closes quickly.

Although an illustrative embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail herein, it is to be understood that many changes and variations may be made without departing from the invention, and accordingly it is intended to include all such changes and variations within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a boiler feed water system having a heater normally supplied with exhaust steam from an engine deriving steam from the boiler, a pump supplying water to the boiler through said heater, a throttle controlled steam line from the boiler to said pump, piping connecting the boiler to said heater for supplying live steam thereto, and a control valve in said piping; means for closing said control valve; a piston cylinder associated with said valve; a pipe connecting said pump steam line and said cylinder; a pilot valve in said pipe; means responsive to the pressure of steam operating said engine so arranged as to close said pilot valve when the supply of exhaust steam is adequate to heat the feed water in said heater; means acting on said pilot valve so as to open it for admitting steam to said pipe and cylinder when the supply of exhaust steam is inadequate to heat the feed water in said heater; and a piston in said cylinder responsive to the pressure of steam operating said pump and adapted to open said control valve when said pump is operating while said pilot valve is open due to inadequacy of the supply of exhaust steam to heat the feed water in said heater.

2. In a boiler feed water system having a heater normally supplied with exhaust steam from an engine deriving steam from the boiler, a pump supplying water to the boiler through said heater, a throttle controlled steam line from the boiler to said pump, piping connecting the boiler to said heater for supplying live steam thereto, and a control valve in said piping; a piston cylinder associated with said valve; a pipe connecting said pump steam line and said cylinder; a pilot valve in said pipe; means responsive to the pressure of steam operating said engine so arranged as to close said pilot valve when the supply of exhaust steam is adequate to heat the feed water in said heater; means acting on said pilot valve so as to open it for admitting steam to said pipe and cylinder when the supply of exhaust steam is inadequate to heat the feed water in said heater; a piston in said cylinder responsive to the pressure of steam operating said pump and adapted to open said control valve when said pump is operating while said pilot valve is open due to inadequacy of the supply of exhaust steam to heat the feed water in said heater; means acting on said control valve to close it when the pressure of steam operating said pump falls below a predetermined pressure; and a restricted vent for said cylinder for exhausting the latter of steam as said valve closes to permit quick closing of said control valve by said means.

3. In a boiler feed water system having a heater normally supplied with exhaust steam from an engine deriving steam from the boiler, a pump supplying water to the boiler through said heater, a throttle controlled steam line from the boiler to said pump, piping connecting the boiler to said heater for supplying live steam thereto, and a control valve in said piping; a piston cylinder associated with said valve; a pipe connecting said pump steam line and said cylinder; a pilot valve in said pipe; means responsive to the pressure of steam operating said engine so arranged as to close said pilot valve when the supply of exhaust steam is adequate to heat the feed water in said heater; means acting on said pilot valve so as to open it for admitting steam to said pipe and cylinder when the supply of exhaust steam is inadequate to heat the feed water in said heater; a piston in said cylinder responsive to the pressure of steam operating said pump and adapted to open said control valve when said pump is operating while said pilot valve is open due to inadequacy of the supply of exhaust steam to heat the feed water in said heater; means subjecting said piston to the pressure of steam passing through said control valve and piping so arranged as to tend to close said control valve; and spring means acting in conjunction with said last means to close said control valve.

4. In a boiler feed water system having a heater normally supplied with exhaust steam from an engine deriving steam from the boiler, a pump supplying water to the boiler through said heater, a throttle controlled steam line from the boiler to said pump, piping connecting the boiler to said heater for supplying live steam thereto, and a control valve in said piping; a piston cylinder associated with said valve; a pipe connecting said pump steam line and said cylinder; a pilot valve in said pipe; means responsive to the pressure of steam operating said engine so arranged as to close said pilot valve when the supply of exhaust steam is adequate to heat the feed water in said heater; means acting on said pilot valve so as to open it for admitting steam to said pipe and cylinder when the supply of exhaust steam is inadequate to heat the feed water in said heater; a piston in said cylinder responsive to the pressure of steam operating said pump and adapted to open said control valve when said pump is iii) operating while said pilot valve is open due to inadequacy of the supply of exhaust steam to heat the feed water in said heater; means acting on said control valve to close it when the pressure of steam for operating said pump falls below a predetermined pressure; and a connection between said heater and cylinder for exhausting the latter of steam to permit quick closing of said valve by said means.

5. In a boiler feed water system having aheater normally supplied with exhaust steam from an engine deriving steam from the boiler, a pump supplying water to the boiler through said heater, a throttle controlled steam line from the boiler to said pump, piping connecting the boiler to said heater for supplying live steam thereto, and a control valve in said piping; means for closing said control valve; a piston cylinder associated with said valve; a pipe connecting said pump steam line to said heater; a pilot valve in said pipe; means responsive to the pressure of steam operating said engine so arranged as to close said pilot valve when the supply of exhaust steam is adequate to heat the water in said heater; means acting on said pilot valve so as to open it for admitting steam to said pipe when the supply of exhaust steam is inadequate to heat the feed water in said heater; a connection from said pipe to said cylinder at a point between said pilot valve and said heater; a piston in said cylinder arranged to open said control valve; and a choke in said pipe at a point between said heater and said connection to said cylinder for restricting the flow of steam from said pump steam line to said heater and for building up steam pressure in said cylinder to cause the piston therein to open said control valve for supplying live steam to said heater through said piping.

6. In a boiler feed water system having a heater normally supplied with exhaust steam from an engine deriving steam from the boiler, a pump supplying water to the boiler through said heater, a throttle controlled steam line from the boiler to said pump, piping connecting the boiler to said heater for supplying live steam thereto, and a control valve in said piping; a piston cylinder associated with said valve; a pipe connecting said pump steam line to said heater; a pilot valve in said pipe; means responsive to the pressure of steam operating said engine so arranged as to close said pilot valve when the supply of exhaust steam is adequate to heat the water in said heater; means acting on said pilot valve so as to open it for admitting steam to said pipe when the supply of exhaust steam is inadequate to heat the feed water in said heater; a connection from said pipe to said cylinder at a point between said pilot valve and said heater; a piston in said cylinder arranged to open said control valve; a choke in said pipe at a point between said heater and said connection to said cylinder for restricting the flow of steam from said pump steam line to said heater and for building up steam pressure in said cylinder to cause the piston therein to open said control valve for supplying live steam to said heater through said piping; and means acting on said control valve so as to close it when steam operating said pump falls below a predetermined pressure and causing the steam in said cylinder to be exhausted into said heater through said connection and pipe.

7. In a boiler feed water system having a heater normally supplied with exhaust steam from an engine deriving steam from the boiler, a pump supplying water to the boiler through said heater, a throttle controlled steam line from the boiler to said pump, piping connecting the boiler to said heater for supplying live steam thereto, and a control valve in said piping; means for closing said control valve; steam operated means for opening said control valve; a steam pipe for supplying said means; a pilot valve in said steam 

